Aftermath
by dazzlingxjaz
Summary: After finally getting off the island the castaways find themselves at celebratory dinnier, but two of our leading have a few important things to say. Set to the song Changed for Good from Wicked]


The wind whistled through the palm trees, cool and refreshing.

It was strange to see everyone, clean and dressed up. For once they were out of range of plane debris, no chance of monsters, they we're pretty much safe. Nothing compared to what they have been through could happen at a dinner in Honolulu.

It seemed like forever since they had first seen the rescue boat, and ages more since they had actually crashed. So much had happened it wasn't possible to recount it all.

For once there was laughter, really, safe laughter. Laughter that didn't have the uneasy dread that followed it. There was talk, talk about the first thing they did when they got to the hotel, what the first phone call was like, and the ways they would help track down the missing family. After all a year and a half can change the people you leave, as well as yourself. There were smiles, friends reunited with old friends, and family with family. In one word it was beautiful.

A tinkling of glass was suddenly heard. Jack stood up and began his speech.

"I've heard it said that people come into our lives for a reason bringing something we must learn and we are led  
to those who help us most to grow if we let them And we help them in return. Well, I don't know if I believe that's true.  
But I know I'm who I am today Because I knew you…

"Funny," he thought. "I couldn't do this when I was writing my vows."

"Like a comet pulled from orbit, as it passes a sun. Like a stream that meets a boulder, halfway through the wood  
Who can say if I've been changed for the better? But because I knew you, I have been changed for good."

At that moment Charlie is seen, hurriedly squeezing through the crowds.

"Excuse me. Yea, sorry. Oops, sorry, nice purse by the way. Pardon. Oh, hey Scott."

"It's Steve, Charlie, Steve."

"Er, yeah can never get that right…excuse me."

Finally he reached what her wanted. Blonde and as beautiful as ever, Claire was seated with Aaron by her side.

"Charlie?"

"Er, hey Claire. Your looking…" he was lost for words. "Sodding beautiful. Claire I have to tell you something."

"Charlie, are you all right? You look all worn out and-"

"Claire listen…It well may be, that we will never meet again in this lifetime. So let me say before we part; So much of me, is made of what I learned from you. You'll be with me"

_Like a handprint on my heart…_

Claire looked confused. "Charlie…"

He didn't look like the old Charlie, actually he looked _older_. He wasn't the try-and-get-in-on-everything he was before Charlie. Even after all he had tried to do for her, all he wanted back now, was for her to listen. "No, please listen. After everything that has happened between us, please just listen…."

Somewhere in the room Sawyer was leaning against a pole, debating with himself. Should he or shouldn't he? Finally he had came to decision and moved into the crowed.

"….And now whatever way our stories end, I know you have re-written mine"

_By being my friend:_

_Like a ship blown from its mooring  
By a wind off the sea  
Like a seed dropped by a skybird  
In a distant wood_

_  
_Who can say if I've been changed for the better?" Charlie clasped her hands in his.  
"But because I knew you…."

"Sawyer? Wow, you cleaned up nicely.." Kate's chair had suddenly spun around, and not to her surprise, though she acted like it. Deep down inside the old butterflies started again.

"Yeah, yeah, save it Freckles. Look, while dr. boyfriend is up there preaching, I gotta tell yah something."

"He's not my boyfriend." she answered not quite meeting his eyes. He just gave her a look and started what he wanted to say…

"I know you didn't get the ah… best impression of me at first. And just to clear the air I ask forgiveness.  
For the things I've done you blame me for." his eyes turned from the floor back to hers, with a somewhat pleading expression.

Kate just smiled "But then, I guess we know there's blame to share."

"Claire I know you think I'm this useless junkie. And, right now that might be all I am, but also know that I am completely, undoubtedly, unequivocally, unabashedly, in love with you. I know I've come across ,er, bloody awful but…

"Kate, you might think I'm just some hick with a grudge, but…"

Claire stared into Charlie's beseeching eyes, while on the other side of the room Kate smiled at the thought of Sawyer's locked with hers

They both spoke, Claire and Kate. "And none of it seems to matter anymore."

_Like a comet pulled Like a ship blown  
From orbit as it Off it's mooring  
Passes a sun, ike By a wind off the  
A stream that meets Sea, like a seed  
A boulder, half-way Dropped by a  
Through the wood Bird in the wood_

"Who can say if I've been changed for the better?" Sawyer murmured.

"I do believe I have been changed for the better" This was it, Charlie's last chance to have Claire. _What will I do with out her? With out everything? How can I go back to the way it was?_

He was startled by what she said next. "And because I knew you"

Saying nothing, Kate just stood there. Sawyer's face fell, and he began to turn around, but surprisingly he was pulled back.

"Because I knew you…." Kate said.

Jack stared out at everyone. These people, all of them, some of them he still wasn't sure of their names, by tomorrow they would be gone. Would he see them again, he wasn't sure. Of course there would be the attempted email every couple of weeks, those who still had homes. But he knew some of them he would never see again. It was going to be hard, starting over, but he could do it, they all could do it. Though he wouldn't be with them, the memories of the island would live on forever, the good and the bad.

"Because I knew you…"

_I have been changed for good._


End file.
